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Many parents think that calcium nutrition is an important factor in the growth and development of the baby, so as long as there is a slight difference in the process of growth and development, parents are not calm, and the most likely thing to think of is "calcium deficiency".
Backstage also often receives various doubts from parents about calcium deficiency:
Is my child teething slowly because of a calcium deficiency?
My child sweats, is it a lack of calcium?
My baby is shorter than children of the same age, and I want to know if it is a calcium deficiency?
……
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The topic of calcium deficiency and calcium supplementation will always rank top 3 in the list of parents' parenting problems. So today we will talk about this topic
01
You think of calcium deficiency manifestations
May not be associated with calcium deficiency
Many parents suspect that the baby has the following manifestations, but in fact it may not be, let's take a look.
Manifestation 1: Occipital baldness
(Picture from the Internet, invasion and deletion)
Many babies before the age of one have experienced occipital baldness, but the real cause of occipital baldness is not necessarily calcium deficiency, the most common reason is that the baby has rubbed it many times when lying flat and turning his head, which temporarily affects the growth of the occipital hair.
Don't worry about this, as the baby grows up, the opportunity to sit, stand, and walk increases, and the sleep gradually becomes quieter, and the pillow hair will gradually grow.
Manifestation 2: Sweating a lot
Babies who love to sweat cannot all be explained by the factor of calcium deficiency.
Sweating is a common phenomenon in many small babies, and it is mostly related to fast growth rate, strong basal metabolism, large skin water content and large activity.
This condition will improve as your baby ages.
Manifestation 3: Restless sleep
There are many factors that affect the baby's sleep, such as when the sense of safe attachment has not yet been established, the baby wakes up more at night, and often even needs to be soothed by breastfeeding;
There are also some babies, less outdoor activities, a single lifestyle, a narrow social circle, and brain development cannot be fully stimulated, resulting in restless sleep and crying.
Manifestation 4: Shorter than babies of the same age
When a baby is shorter than her peers, mothers often worry that the baby is caused by a calcium deficiency.
In fact, the growth of height requires reasonable nutrition, adequate sleep and regular exercise, etc., these factors are very important.
Manifestation 5: late teething, slow teething
Most babies will start teething at 4 to 10 months of age, and some will postpone it until about 1 year old, and the baby's teething time has a strong individual difference.
There are many factors that affect teething, such as genetics, disease, the development of the teeth themselves, thyroid function, etc. Parents should not be too nervous and can wait with peace of mind.
Calcium supplementation does not promote the effect of teething.
Manifestation 6: Bent legs
Many mothers find that their legs are O-shaped when they lie flat, and they often worry that this is caused by calcium deficiency, but this is not the case.
When the baby is still in the mother's belly, it can only curl up due to space limitations, so it will keep its legs bent for a while after birth.
After learning to walk, because the lower limbs are not yet able to support the weight of the body well, the legs will also be temporarily bent. This condition does not require calcium supplementation or any treatment, and it has improved with the growth of the conference.
02
Normal babies do not need to supplement calcium
Babies are least likely to be deficient in calcium
"Calcium deficiency" is just a common folk term, in fact, babies are the most likely people to lack calcium.
Milk and dairy products are good sources of calcium:
Before the baby is 1 year old, he mainly drinks milk and does not need to supplement calcium;
After the age of 1, milk or dairy products are still the best source of calcium for babies, priority should be given to obtaining calcium through food, and only when it is impossible to obtain enough calcium through food, consider taking calcium under the guidance of a doctor.
In general, as long as you ensure enough milk and enough vitamin D per day, your baby will not be "deficient" in calcium and will not need to supplement with additional calcium at all.
What the baby needs to supplement is not calcium, but vitamin D
Medically, there is no "calcium deficiency" disease, and some are "vitamin D deficiency rickets".
Vitamin D can promote the absorption of calcium and maintain the body's calcium and phosphorus metabolism balance.
Vitamin D deficiency rickets are calcium and phosphorus metabolism disorders caused by insufficient vitamin D in the body, resulting in a chronic nutritional disease characterized by bone lesions.
With the improvement of living standards, the disease has become less common.
American Paediatric Association guidelines recommend that vitamin D supplementation in children can be done into puberty, and mainland China currently recommends supplementation up to 2 years of age.
Vitamin D can also be synthesized by skin light, and meats such as milk, eggs, and salmon have a high vitamin D content.
03
The best way for your baby to get calcium
Milk is the best source of calcium
As a dietitian who has been working in clinical nutrition for a long time, I am convinced that without milk, babies can hardly consume enough calcium. Milk should be an important cornerstone of your baby's recipes.
Up to 6 months: exclusive breastfeeding should be maintained and fed as needed.
When exclusive breastfeeding is not possible, use formula to feed your baby with a daily milk intake of 700 mL. Breast milk or formula is the entire food for your baby up to 6 months of age.
After 6 months: breast milk or formula should still be the "staple food" of the baby at this stage, and the intake of 600mL should be guaranteed every day, and complementary foods should be added in a timely and reasonable manner.
After the age of 1: On the basis of continuing to feed breast milk or formula, you can also choose some other milk types according to the specific situation of the baby, such as pure milk, yogurt, etc.
In order to ensure adequate calcium intake in early childhood and preschool, it is recommended that the dairy products in the diet at this stage should not be less than 500mL/day. 500 mL of milk provides roughly 500 mg of calcium, which is equivalent to 80% (toddlers) or 60% (preschoolers) of the recommended daily calcium allowance.
Where does the rest of the calcium come from
Soy products
In particular, soybean products such as tofu, dried tofu, and bean skins that add coagulants during processing.
Usually, the calcium content of 150g of tofu is roughly equivalent to the calcium content of 250g of milk, and this type of food should be given to the baby frequently or daily.
It should be noted that the level of calcium content of soybean products has a lot to do with the coagulants added during processing (calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, etc. mostly contain calcium), and those soy milk, humus bamboo or add coagulants but do not contain calcium lactone tofu, Japanese tofu, etc. do not contain much calcium.
For example, the calcium content of soy milk is only 5% to 10% of milk.
Dark green vegetables
Vegetables such as rapeseed, spinach, celery stems, artemisia annua, broccoli and other vegetables should also become regulars in your baby's daily recipes.
Taking rapeseed as an example, 200g of rapeseed can provide 216mg of calcium.
Shrimp skin, tahini, seaweed
This type of food also contains more calcium, but shrimp skin, sesame paste, etc. are limited by the amount of food, so these foods cannot be expected to provide a large amount of calcium.
This article is co-authored by:
Shuying Wang: Pediatrician at The United Family Satellite Clinic in Beijing;
Osie: Founder of Zhibei Pediatrics;
Wang Xingguo: Director of the Department of Nutrition, Dalian Central Hospital.
Finally, what I want to say to all parents is that instead of worrying about the baby's lack of calcium and painstakingly supplementing the baby's calcium, it is better to confirm a few problems first:
Is there a guaranteed daily intake of adequate milk intake?
Is there a timely and reasonable addition of complementary foods?
Are the types of complementary foods rich and balanced?
Have you insisted on vitamin D supplementation and taking your baby out in the sun every day?
If these answers are yes, there is no need to worry about yourself, because your baby may not be deficient in calcium at all.
So dear parents, please jump out of the "calcium deficiency" circle, really understand the problems of the baby, and establish a healthy lifestyle is far more important than blind calcium supplementation!
Today's sharing is here, if you still want to know more about pregnancy and childcare related topics, welcome to leave me a message
Bye, we'll see you next time~